With a little bit of time and effort, you can make your Ubuntu installation look jazzier than any operating system installation. The new look is a refreshing change over the boring brown wallapapers that Ubuntu ships by default.

So lets start with a default Ubuntu installation… Lets call him Insipid Ibex

Insipid Ibex

Step 1… Open a terminal and run

sudo apt-get install ubuntustudio-look

Once done, click on System->Preferences->Appearance and select the UbuntuStudio theme. Also change the wallpaper to the UbuntuStudio wallpaper… and here you go… Haikarrramba!

Interesting Ibex!

Much better eh?

Step 2… Now lets get a MAC like dock for it. Open a terminal and run

sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator

Step 3… As if this is not overwhelming enough for such little effort lets add more to the show…
Pick out an icon set for yourself by visiting this link. My personal favorite is “Black White 2 Gloss”

Black White 2 Gloss Iconset

Here’s how Ubuntu will look once you install them.. Killer aye?

Interesting Ibex - New icons

Step 4… Time to spice up the terminal. Open a terminal and goto Edit->Profiles. Edit the Default profile or create a new profile. Change the text and background colors. I prefer the text to be blue to match the Studio look and the background to be black. Now make the background transparent and set the level of transparency to what you wish and watch the terminal turn into a rockstar!

If this is not enough go ahead and install compiz fusion and you can do a lot more fun stuff. If you’re a geek, it’ll irritate you in 48 hours… If you’re not you’ll hang on to it for a while. But it doesn’t hurt to try it out!

Yeah you can install Ubuntu on your lappy and have all the effects. But if you haven’t used Linux ever you might take some time to get used to a new operating system. There’s a lot more to Ubuntu than eye candy!